Director, The Samuel Braun Chair for the History of the Jews in Germany

Prof. Debra Kaplan

Telephone
Email
debra.kaplan@biu.ac.il
CV

 

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

Name:  Debra Kaplan

E-mail address: debra.kaplan@biu.ac.il

 

HIGHER EDUCATION

 

  • 2003 Ph.D., Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
  • 1998 MA, in the doctoral track, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
  • 1997 BA, Department of History, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, summa cum laude, History degree with Honors, Phi Beta Kappa

 

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

 

  • 2023-present, The Samuel Braun Chair for the History of the Jews in Germany
  • 2019-present, Associate Professor, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Jewish History
  • 2019-2023, Director, Halpern Center for the Study of Jewish Self-Perception, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2014-2019, Senior Lecturer with tenure, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Jewish History
  • 2011-2014, Associate Professor with tenure, Yeshiva University
  • 2009, Core Faculty Member, Bernard Revel Graduate School, Yeshiva University
  • 2007, Dr. Pinkhos Churgin Memorial Chair in Jewish History
  • 2005-2011, Assistant Professor of Jewish History, Department of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University
  • 2004-2005, Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of History and Jewish Studies Program, Queens College, CUNY
  • 2003-2004, Instructor, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Jewish Studies Certificate Program
  • 2003-2004, Full-time Lecturer, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania
  • 2002-2004, Instructor, Department of History, Queens College, CUNY
  • 1998-1999, Teaching Assistant Liaison, University of Pennsylvania Department of History
  • 1997-2000, Teaching Assistant, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania

 

RESEARCH GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

 

  • 2023-2027, Israel Science Foundation grant for Women, Gender and Early Modern European Synagogues, c. 1460-1800
  • 2022, Rosl und Paul Arnsberg-Preis, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft (Frankfurt am Main), for The Patrons and their Poor: Jewish Community and Public Charity in Early Modern Germany
  • 2022, GIF Grant for Young Scientists’ Workshop in Speyer and Alsace, together with Elisheva Baumgarten (Hebrew University), Christoph Cluse and Lukas Clemens (Universität Trier)
  • 2018-2022, Israel Science Foundation grant for Mapping Daily Life in Early Modern Ashkenaz
  • 2018-2019, Fellow, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem
  • 2018, Outstanding Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2015-2018, Israel Science Foundation grant for Charity and Community in Ashkenaz
  • 2013, NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Summer Stipend
  • 2013, Adjunct Fellow, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania (Fall)
  • 2012, Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Award
  • 2010-2011, North American Scholars Circle, Shalom Hartman Institute of North America
  • 2008-2009, Yad Ha-Nadiv/Beracha Foundation Fellowship
  • 2006-2007, Lillian F. and William L. Silber Professor of the Year Award, Yeshiva University
  • 2005, Bernadotte E. Schmitt Research Prize, American Historical Association
  • 2004-2005, Rose and Morris Danzig Post-Doctoral Appointment in Jewish Studies at Queens College, City University of New York
  • 2002-2003, Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow, 2002-2003
  • 2002, Visiting Fellow/Assistant Professor, Einstein Forum, Potsdam and Simon-Dubnow- Institut für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur (Leipzig)
  • 2000, Fritz Halbers Fellow, Leo Baeck Institute/Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst
  • 1998-2002, Jacob K. Javits Fellow                                                                                                         

 

ADVISORY BOARDS

 

  • 2019-present Board of Directors, Historical Society of Israel
  • 2018-present Board of Directors, Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem
  • 2023-present, International Advisory Board, "Steinerne Zeugen digital. Deutsch-jüdische Sepulkralkultur zwischen Mittelalter und Moderne -- Raum, Form, Inschrift," (Digital stone Witnesses: German-Jewish sepulchral culture between the Middle Ages and modernity - space, form, inscription), funded by the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities
  • 2017-present International Advisory Board, Katz Center for Advanced Jewish Studies, University of Pennsylvania
  • 2021-present Advisory Board, SION-Digit (Funded by Rothschild Foundation)
  • 2013-2018 Advisory Board, The Pinkassim Project
  • 2009-2014 Academic Advisory Council, Center for Jewish History, New York
  • 2009-2014 Liaison between Yeshiva University Museum and University Faculty
  • 2005-2014 Advisory Board, Early Modern Workshop

 

EDITORAL BOARDS

 

  • 2016-present Hiddushim

 

REFEREE/CONSULTANT

 

Over the past several years I have served as a referee/consultant for the following institutions, journals and presses: AJS Review, American Academy of Berlin, Ars Judaica, Brandeis University Press, Brill, Cambridge University Press, Central European History, German Studies Quarterly, Chiddushim, Israel Historical Society, Israel Science Foundation, Jewish Law Association, Jewish Quarterly Review, Jewish Social Studies, Leo Baeck Institute, Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Merkaz Zalman Shazar, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, National Library of Israel, Nordisk Judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies, Princeton University Press, Scholion – Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Studia Rosenthaliana, Tel Aviv University, Yale University Press, Zion

 

SELECTED LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS (selected, last five years)

 

  • 2024, “Jewish Communal Archives and the Social History of the Early Modern Kehillah,” National Library of Israel, Jerusalem
  • 2024, “Spatial Hierarchies in Early Modern Jewish-German Communities” Tel-Aviv University
  • 2024, “Excommunication within the Community: The Importance of Space in Early Modern Jewish Communities in Germany,” Israel Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2023, Keynote Address: “From Manuscript to Map: Space and Status in Early Modern Ashkenazic Communities,” Histoires des juifs, portraits urbains: Au-delà du renvoi géographique dans l’Europe prérévolutionnaire, Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Paris
  • 2023, “Beyond the Judengasse: Mapping as an Historical Tool,” Ben-Gurion University
  • 2022, "Inscribed with a Bronze and Lead Pen:" Jewish Communal Documents and the Theology of Memory in Early Modern Europe, Fourth Annual Liss Lecture in Judaica, University of Notre Dame
  • 2022, Synagogue Seats and the Economy of Early Modern Jewish Communities, World Economic History Conference, Paris
  • 2022, Between Center and Periphery: Everyday Travel and Jewish Communal Life in Early Modern Germany, Early Modern Workshop
  • 2021, Jews Crossing Borders: Examples from Worms and the Electoral Palatinate, Arye Maimon Institut, Universität Trier
  • 2020, Communal Etrogim, Social Status and Social Discipline in Early Modern European Jewish Communities, The Saga of the Citron: Historical and Global Perspectives, Historical Society of Israel and Brandeis University
  • 2019, Jewish and Christian Neighbors in a City without Jews: Expulsions and Beyond in Strasbourg, Jews and Christians in the Medieval City: Art, Archaeology and Traces of the Past, Fordham University
  • 2019, Jewish Communities in Premodern Alsace, The Colmar Treasure, The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • 2019, Demography, Social Status and Charity in the Jewish Community of Early Modern Frankfurt, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • 2019, Documentation and Early Modern Jewish Legal Culture, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem
  • 2019, Intersecting Authorities: Jews in the Bishopric of Speyer, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem
  • 2019, Differentiating among the Poor in Frankfurt‘s Judengasse, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
  • 2019, Women, Gender and Poverty, Machon Schechter, Jerusalem

 

ORGANIZATION OF PROGRAMS, SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPS

 

  • 2024, Co-Director, Workshop for Young Scholars, Jewish Communal Registers and Records:
    Reading Early Modern and Modern Jewish Texts, Society and Culture, National Library of Israel
  • 2024, Organizing Committee, Annual Conference of the Israel Historical Society, History and Communication, Open University
  • 2024, Annual Lecture of the Samuel Braun Chair for the History of the Jews in Germany: Crisis and Tradition: Jewish Life After Epidemic in Early Modern Europe, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2023, GIF Workshop for Young Scientists, Connecting Individuals and Communities in Medieval and Early Modern Ashkenaz, Speyer and Alsace

 

  • 2023, Organizer of Workshop of the Halpern Center:  new Perspectives on Modern Jewish History: Artistic, Social and Gendered Perceptions, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2023, Organizing Committee, A New Era - Europe in an Age of Change: Conference in honor of Shmuel Feiner, Bar-Ilan University  
  • 2023, Organizing Committee, Journeys to Jewish Cultures: Conference in honor of David Malkiel, Bar-Ilan University  
  • 2022, Gender, Migration, Dislocation: The Second Annual Bar-Ilan - Tel Aviv Workshop on Jewish Social History
  • 2021, Organizing Committee, Humankind and the Environment: Nature, the Senses and Culture, Annual Conference of the Historical Society of Israel, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2021, The Second Annual Bar-Ilan - Tel Aviv Workshop on Jewish Social History
  • 2021, Research Group in Ritual and Space in Jewish Communities, 1200-1800, Halpern Center, Bar-Ilan University
  • 2020-21, Program for Outstanding BA Students in Jewish History, Halpern Center Bar-Ilan University
  • 2019, Organizing Committee, Travel in German Lands, Braun Chair in German-Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University 
  • 2018, Organizing Committee, My Dear Fromet! Letter Writing in German-Speaking Lands, Braun Chair in German-Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University 
  • 2017-2020, Organizing Committee, Forum Ashkenaz
  • 2017-2018, Organizing Committee, Early Modern Workshop on Space and Identity
  • 2017, Organizing Committee, Annual Conference of Israeli Historical Society, Charity and Care for Others
  • 2017, Member, Interdisciplinary Research Group, Bar-Ilan University, Marriage and Divorce Across Jewish Societies (with upcoming meetings and a conference)
  • 2017, Member, Committee for Early Modern History in Israel Historical Society
  • 2017, Co-Facilitator [with Elisheva Baumgarten, Hebrew University] Institute for Advanced Studies, Israel Historical Society, ERC Beyond the Elite, Graduate Student Workshop on Gender and Medieval Europe with Professor Katherine French
  • 2016, Member, Organizing Committee of 500 Years of Reformation. Jews and Protestants – Judaism and Protestantism, Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem
  • 2012, [with Judah Galinsky] History of Jewish Giving, Center for Jewish History, New York
  • 2012, Jews in Early Modern Europe:  A Day-to-Day Perspective, Center for Jewish History, New York     
  • 2011, Faculty Mentor, Messianism through the Ages, International Conference run by students from the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program, Yeshiva University
  • 2008, 2011 Initiated and headed program for Majors/Minors in Jewish Studies
  • 2008, Law: Continuity and Change, Fifth Annual Early Modern Workshop, Yeshiva University
  • 2005-2006, Founder and Organizer, Jewish Studies Faculty Colloquium, Yeshiva University

 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

 

American Historical Association; Association for Jewish Studies; Israel Historical Society; Sixteenth Century Studies; World Union of Jewish Studies

 

LANGUAGES

 

English and Hebrew (reading, writing, speaking); French (reading, speaking, some writing); German (reading, proficient speaking); Latin (reading); Yiddish (early modern Western -- reading) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated Date : 09/10/2024